Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system portable housings, and more particularly to an integrated folded OLED display in an information handling system portable housing having integrated cooling.
Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Portable information handling systems continue to shrink in size and increase in capability. End users appreciate small portable systems that readily travel so that end users can access information on-the-go. Although decreasing sizes of portable information handling systems has resulted from a confluence of factors, one driving factor is the shrinking size of display devices and the graphics processing subsystems that generate visual images at graphics devices. Portable information handling system housing size is typically determined by the size of the flat panel display integrated in the housing. Generally end users select a system based upon the length and width of the display. Once an end user selects a display size, the user typically can select a particular system based on processing capability and thickness. Generally, end user's prefer information handling systems that have less thick profiles, however, smaller housings tend to have less room for powerful processing components and the thermal constraints often associated with greater processing speeds.
Generally, portable information handling systems have integrated flat panel liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to present information as visual images. LCDs present visual images by filtering light provided by a backlight through liquid crystals that change their filter characteristics based on a signal driven by a timing controller and pixel values provided from a graphics system. Over the past several years, the thickness of LCDs has decreased as the size of backlights has shrunk, such as with the transition from fluorescent to light emitting diode (LED) backlight sources. More recently, flat panel display devices have benefited from the introduction of organic light emitting diode (OLED) display devices. OLED displays apply current to an emissive electroluminescent layer of organic compound that emits red, green and blue light in proportion to the drive current. Since OLED displays do not use a backlight, the thickness of the display tends to be less. Indeed, OLED displays apply to a substrate as a film that folds and bends so that OLED displays may have a form factor that bends to adapt to a housing shape.
One difficulty associated with OLED displays is ensuring that the display film has adequate structural support that takes advantage of the low form factor available from conformable OLED display films. Information handling systems often integrate a number of different hardware devices along with a flat panel display structure that can tend to increase overall housing thickness. Some examples include a touch functionality that detects touch inputs made at a display screen, such as a thin film transistor (TFT) touch detection system; an antenna that supports WiFi and other radio transmissions; a camera that captures images in the proximity of the display, etc. In addition to size constraints introduced by low form factor housing designs, the tight fit of multiple components within a thin housing structure often introduces interference from unintended emissions due to the close proximity of components to each other. Another difficulty associated with OLED displays is that the generation of light creates thermal energy as a byproduct. Excess thermal energy generally must be removed so that components near the OLED display do not suffer damage. In systems that have thin form factors, thermal dissipation presents a difficulty where airflow is constrained by tight housing constraints. Thermal dissipation issues tend to increase where OLED films conform to bent housing shapes, such as where an OLED film folds over a housing edge or is integrated on both sides of a housing.